[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9697 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 9697
To authorize the President of the United States to issue cyber letters
of marque and reprisal, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 15, 2026
Mr. Burchett introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To authorize the President of the United States to issue cyber letters
of marque and reprisal, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Cyber Letters of
Marque and Reprisal Act''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as
follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Purpose.
Sec. 4. Definitions.
Sec. 5. Issuance of letters of marque and reprisal.
Sec. 6. Reciprocal invocation of letters of marque and reprisal.
Sec. 7. Requirements and qualifications.
Sec. 8. Protection from liability.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Clause 11 of section 8 of article I of the Constitution
of the United States grants Congress--
(A) the power to ``grant Letters of Marque and
Reprisal'' to punish, deter, and prevent acts of
aggression and depredation and other malign acts
committed by foreigners against Americans through
cyber-enabled means; and
(B) the authority to make ``Rules concerning
Captures on Land and Water''.
(2) Digital assets have become a core component of the
global financial system and are used daily by millions of
Americans for payments, savings, remittances, and commerce.
(3) Americans are losing billions of dollars annually to
crypto-enabled scams, fraud, ransomware, hacking, and theft.
Seniors and other vulnerable populations are disproportionately
harmed, with many victims losing life savings through schemes
that exploit the speed, scale, and cross-border nature of
digital assets.
(4) Cybercriminal organizations, transnational criminal
networks, and state-aligned actors increasingly rely on digital
assets to steal, launder, and move funds at global scale,
financing ransomware attacks, sanctions evasion, weapons
proliferation, terrorism, and other threats to United States
national security.
(5) Digital asset financial crime is unfolding at machine
speed. Funds can be stolen, laundered, and cashed out globally
within hours, far outpacing traditional compliance and
enforcement frameworks.
SEC. 3. PURPOSE.
The purposes of this Act are--
(1) to authorize the President to issue cyber letters of
marque and reprisal to commission private persons and entities
to conduct limited cyberspace operations;
(2) to deter and disrupt real-world and cyber command and
control structures and cyber operations against the United
States, entities within the United States, or persons within
the United States;
(3) to deter and disrupt cyberthreats, provide for
compensation for successful private action modeled upon
historic privateering on the high seas, and modernize such
ancient tactics to deter modern threats;
(4) to facilitate the return of stolen funds to American
victims of cyber-enabled crime; and
(5) to empower the private sector to protect victims,
disrupt illicit networks in real time, and ensure that lawful
digital asset innovation can continue to grow safely.
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Cyber letter of marque and reprisal.--The term ``cyber
letter of marque and reprisal'' means a Federal commission
authorizing a private entity to conduct specified cyber
operations against designated targets in accordance with the
conditions and restrictions imposed by the President pursuant
to section 7.
(2) Cyber operation.--The term ``cyber operation'' means
actions conducted in cyberspace, including--
(A) cyber exploration, including intelligence
collection;
(B) data recovery;
(C) information operations;
(D) asset seizure (including digital assets and
cryptocurrency);
(E) disruption of malicious infrastructure;
(F) actions in support of government operations or
other entities operating under a letter of marque;
(G) combating cybercrimes; and
(H) other proactive actions intended to disrupt,
degrade, deny, or destroy information systems or
networks belonging or affiliated with designated
cyberthreats.
(3) Cybercrime.--The term ``cybercrime'' includes any
offense described in section 1028, 1028A, 1029, 1030, or 1343
of title 18, United States Code.
(4) Designated cyberthreat.--The term ``designated
cyberthreat'' means a foreign individual, group, or entity
identified by the President as--
(A) responsible for, or a sponsor of, cyberattacks
against United States persons or assets owned or
controlled by United States persons; and
(B) listed in a public registry in accordance with
applicable law.
SEC. 5. ISSUANCE OF LETTERS OF MARQUE AND REPRISAL.
(a) Authority of the President.--The President, or a senior
official designated by the President in accordance with section 301 of
title 3, United States Code, is authorized to commission, under
officially issued letters of marque and reprisal, as many privately
equipped persons and entities as the President determines may be
required, with suitable instructions to such persons or to the leaders
of such entities to employ all means reasonably necessary to conduct
cyber operations to disrupt, degrade, seize, and repatriate the assets,
property, or infrastructure located outside of the geographic
boundaries of the United States and its territories, of a designated
cyberthreat.
(b) Security Bonds.--
(1) Requirement.--The President may not issue a letter of
marque and reprisal without requiring the recipient to post a
security bond in an amount the President determines to be
sufficient to ensure the execution of such letter in accordance
with its terms and conditions.
(2) Forfeiture.--If the recipient of a letter of marque and
reprisal violates the terms of such letter, the recipient shall
forfeit part or all of the posted bond, in accordance with the
terms of such letter.
(c) Restriction.--Any person or entity receiving a cyber letter of
marque and reprisal may not knowingly conduct any operations relating
to such letter against any United States citizen or entity.
(d) Recordkeeping Requirement.--Any person or entity receiving a
cyber letter of marque or reprisal shall keep a log of all activities
conducted and assets seized pursuant to such letter for a period of not
less than 5 years.
(e) Recovered Assets.--In issuing cyber letters of marque and
reprisal, the President may require up to 15 percent of the total
assets recovered by each holder of a cyber letter be forfeited to the
United States to fund a bounty program to sustain future cyber letter
of marque and reprisal operations.
(f) Bounties.--
(1) In general.--The President is authorized to use funds
recovered through cyber operations to establish bounties
claimable by holders of cyber letters of marque and reprisal.
(2) Assistance.--A person or entity without a cyber letter
of marque and reprisal may recover up to 5 percent of the total
assets recovered from a designated cyberthreat as a reward for
providing information leading to such recovery.
(3) Disposition of funds.--Any funds recovered through
cyber operations that are not expended pursuant to paragraph
(1) or (2) shall be deposited into the Crime Victims Fund
established under section 1402 of the Victims of Crime Act (34
U.S.C. 20101).
(g) Limited Offensive Operations.--Holders of cyber letters of
marque and reprisal are authorized to conduct limited offensive cyber
operations, including the use of malware and other offensive tools
targeting digital infrastructure (including hardware and software to
conduct cyber operations) to the extent necessary to carry out such
cyber operations.
SEC. 6. RECIPROCAL INVOCATION OF LETTERS OF MARQUE AND REPRISAL.
If Congress authorizes the use of traditional letters of marque and
reprisal for activities at sea, on land, in air, or in space, a holder
of a cyber letter of marque and reprisal shall be authorized to conduct
operations at sea, on land, in air, or in space to the extent permitted
by the President under section 7.
SEC. 7. REQUIREMENTS AND QUALIFICATIONS.
The President, to the extent reasonably necessary, may issue
guidance for--
(1) the requirements and qualifications required to receive
a cyber letter of marque and reprisal under section 5; and
(2) the extent to which a holder of a cyber letter of
marque and reprisal may conduct operations at sea, on land, in
air, or in space pursuant to section 6.
SEC. 8. PROTECTION FROM LIABILITY.
No cause of action shall lie or be maintained in any court against
the holder of a letter of marque and reprisal for any act of such
holder that is expressly authorized by such letter.
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